


For A Soul Like Yours

by Tricochet



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Every High School Trope In The Book, F/F, Hickeys, High School AU, Nerd!Zari, Promposals, Sharing a Bed, punk!Charlie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-14 08:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16909365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tricochet/pseuds/Tricochet
Summary: Zari doesn't like the new girl at her school. She doesn't like her motor oil smell, her cute accent, her tight shirts, or her attitude. At least, that's what Zari tells herself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note that this does occur in high school, and there is some implied sex. However, nothing explicit happens. This also does contain every high school trope in the books. I started writing this as a Zarlie fic, and Zarlie is the main focus, but Constangreen is also very relevant to the plot.

Zari yawns at her desk. John pokes her with a pencil.

“Z. Stay awake. There’s a new student today. Better not sleep. She might be hot.”

“Why? We never get new students in the middle of the year.”

“I heard she got kicked out of somewhere.”

“DId you hear from a reliable source or are you just gossiping?”

“We have a new student joining us today,” the teacher announces before John can form a snarky reply. “Charlotte’s going to be coming in just as soon as she gets her locker sorted out.”

“It’s Charlie,” someone says. The first thing Zari notices is her accent turning her name into 'Chah-lie', even before she turns around and gets a look at her. 

She’s wearing black jeans and a studded shirt for some obscure band. The black boots and eyeliner give Zari the vibe of a Hot Topic catalogue. She looks right at Zari. Zari looks away, turning her face back to the front of the classroom. She can feel her face heat up, and she’s suddenly extremely aware that she didn’t brush her hair enough before class. She wonders vaguely if her face is breaking out or she has a stain on her shirt. 

“Charlie. Okay,” the teacher says. “Take a seat.”

Zari forces her gaze to stay forward, but she hears the scrape of a chair right behind her. She turns her head as little as possible to get another look at Charlie. She tries to just sneak a quick glance, but Charlie meets her eyes and smirks.

Zari quickly turns her head away. She tries to put Charlie out of her mind and does a pretty good job until the teacher leaves to get some printouts.

Zari feels a hand touch her arm and looks up. Charlie has moved next to her. 

“Oh, hi,” Zari says. Charlie lounges on the desk next to her, legs crossed. 

“What’s your name, precious?”

“Zari Tomaz,” she manages to say.

“Cute,” Charlie says. Her hand stays on Zari’s arm. Her nails are painted dark colors. She’s wearing several metal bracelets that look heavier than one of Zari’s textbooks.

Zari reaches for her homework with her free hand. Charlie watches her. Zari sees a piercing in her eyebrow glint. 

“What do you say?” Charlie says quietly, almost into Zari’s ear. 

“To?”

Charlie shrugs. “Whatever you want. You and me, Tomaz.” 

Zari stares, a little confused about what exactly Charlie is offering. Charlie leans closer, giving Zari a waft from her jacket of motor oil. 

“No. I’m good. Thanks.”

Charlie runs her fingers up Zari’s arm. Zari reminds herself that no, she’s focusing on her studies. She can’t afford any sort of distraction in too-tight skinny jeans and makeup. 

“Charlie, could you sit back in your seat?” the teacher says from the doorway. Charlie hops from the desk and shoots Zari another glance, leaving Zari’s skin burning from her absence. 

 

 

Zari sets down her new books. They hit her desk with a louder noise than she was expecting. It startles Ray into jumping. 

Nate laughs into his energy drink from across the table. “What’s with the anger, Z?”

“I’m not angry,” Zari says, scowling. 

Sara stares at her with an eyebrow raised.

“Okay, I might be a little angry.”

“Spill it,” Nate says.

Zari sighs. “It’s the new girl. We’re supposed to be working together on our project for ethics class, but she’s being impossible. She won’t even talk to me except these snide comments and she leaves my books smelling like hairspray and covered in eyeliner smears. I don’t even know how she gets eyeliner on my books. And she has to use my books, because she won’t ever bring her own.”

“I will if it bothers you so much, precious,” Charlie says, . She has one arm around Zari’s shoulder, speaking directly into Zari’s ear. 

“Charlie! You snuck up on me!” Zari says, trying to be casual. She pushes Charlie’s arm off her shoulder.

Charlie bites her lip and looks down at where Zari is flipping through her book on philosophy. It seems like she stares a little longer than necessary.

Zari isn’t any better, but she forces herself not to gaze for too long at the tight punk shirt Charlie’s wearing. 

Charlie runs her tongue over her teeth. Zari can hear her tongue piercing click. “So I was thinking, we could do our presentation in a debate format. That way we could present multiple sides of the argument, and you’d get to express your true feelings toward me.”

Zari snorts. “Good idea, but I’m not showing the whole class what I really think of you, because that’d land me in detention.”

Charlie winks. It takes Zari a second to register the double meaning of what she’d just said. “So, debate it is then?”

“Yeah, sure,” Zari says. Charlie turns and struts away. Zari makes an effort to tear her eyes away from the tight black shorts she’s wearing over fishnets.

John slides back into his seat and leers at her. 

“What?” Zari demands.

“You were checking her out.”

“I was not!” 

“Love, your eyes were making a direct path to her arse.”

“No!” Zari denies.

John smirks at her.

“How was your smoke break anyway?” Zari fires back, trying to change the subject.

“It was good,” John says. “Why? You considering picking up the habit?”

“I just couldn’t help but notice that you don’t smell like smoke at all. Oh, and look who just walked in. It’s your little student government buddy. And he’s limping.”

“Touche,” John says. Nate stares from John to Gary and makes a mock gasp. Ray looks utterly clueless. “You did that little maneuver to get the attention off you, but one of these days, you won’t be able to change the subject, pet.”

“So, how long have you been fooling around with Gary?” Zari counters.

“A few weeks now. It’s a casual thing. We’re just shagging. You should try being friends with benefits with someone. Would very much recommend.”

Zari snorts. “We both know that’s not going to happen. Charlie’s just playing with me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” John says, waving in Gary’s direction. 

 

 

Formatting the presentation in debate format had been a good idea on Charlie’s part. Zari hated to admit it, but when the girl focused, she was sharp.

“Okay, so when we do this we still want to keep it nice and friendly,” Zari is saying. The equivocation of the words isn’t apparent to Zari until it’s too late, although Charlie clearly picks it up. “We are still co-presenters showing a performance to an audience. We have to be civil and focus on the audience, not each other.” 

Charlie picks up the offered copy of Zari’s outline and twirls it between her fingers. Zari can see her nail polish. Three of the fingers on each hand are painted black. The thumb and ring fingers are silver. Her right pointer finger nail is chipped around one edge. 

“Gonna be hard when you look so good,” Charlie says, but she’s not even looking at Zari. She starts writing her own notes on the paper. “So, you go through your points, then I’ll do a recap of each of your arguments when I counter with mine.”

Zari starts to read it aloud. She’s two sentences into discussing Marxism when Charlie waves a dismissive hand. “You sound like a robot, precious. Let me show you how it’s done.”

Charlie hops up on a desk, propping her hands on her knees. “Now, the capitalist system. How does it work? I’d say it doesn’t. It’s destined to decay-”

Zari interrupts. “I don’t think we can even deliver this presentation if you don’t get off that desk and stand up here with me.”

“Whatever you say,” Charlie says, her words almost entirely vowels. She jumps to her feet and takes three steps so she’s right behind Zari.

Zari clears her throat. “To understand a system, we need to understand who benefits- what are you doing?”

Charlie grins where her face is sitting on Zari’s shoulder. In her heeled boots, she’s just the right height. She’d taken one more step so her whole front is pressed into Zari’s back. She puts one of her hands on Zari’s hip. Zari is shocked into silence by how warm and good Charlie feels behind her. 

Charlie takes the chance to continue her argument. “Considering these supposed beneficiaries of the system, namely society at large, what does it say when a society prioritizes itself over the individuals who compose it?”

Her hand is tracing circles on Zari’s hip. Her face is so close to Zari’s ear that she’s almost whispering. She’s given Zari plenty of chances to step away, but Zari hasn’t taken one.  
Zari continues. “Eh-hm. The system, as it is, exists to-the society as- uh!”

Charlie’s other fingers had been trailing up Zari’s shirt until she stopped speaking.

“Do you want me to stop?” Charlie asks quietly.

Zari looks around at the deserted classroom like someone might be listening, waiting to judge her for what she chooses.

Zari turns around and throws her arms around Charlie’s neck in one move. All it takes is a second before Charlie’s tongue is halfway down her throat and both of Charlie’s hands are clutching her ass. 

“Thought so,” Charlie mutters triumphantly, as soon as she gets her mouth back. She starts to go after Zari’s neck, pushing her backwards into the whiteboard. 

Then she reaches one hand under each of Zari’s knees and pulls them up so Zari’s ass is on the whiteboard ledge and Charlie is standing between her open legs, pressing their bodies together through the torso and hips. Zari can feel the warmth of Charlie’s chest and the pressure of Charlie’s crotch close to hers when Charlie rolls her hips.

Charlie pushes again, hips snapping forward. Zari gasps at the roughness of Charlie’s jean shorts. Her hands scratch at Charlie’s back, running over the chains attached to her tank top.

Charlie goes after Zari’s neck again. Zari can feel the marks getting sucked and the occasional scrape of Charlie’s teeth. Then Charlie releases one of Zari’s legs enough to put a hand up Zari’s shirt, just high enough to rest over her stomach. 

It’s like Zari comes to her senses. She gasps, so different than the noises she’d just been making. She pushes Charlie away and grabs her outline.

“I have to go,” she says, running for the door.

Charlie glances after her with a wink and a run of her tongue over her lips.

 

 

It takes John all of ten seconds to figure it out. Zari sees the moment when he looks at the scarf on her neck and then scans the crowd for Charlie. He makes a lewd gesture at Zari, just to make sure she’s aware that he knows. He probably wants to keep her from making any smart remarks about his student government fuckbuddy.

“How’s the project going?” Ray asks cheerfully, clearly clueless as ever.

“It’s alright,” Zari says, forcing her face not to betray anything about how it was actually going. 

“You know, New Girl’s been eyeing you since she first got here,” Sara says. “She’s clearly into you, and besides, she’s hot. I think you should go for it.”

“If she’s so hot, you go for it,” Zari snaps back.

“You know she’d never cheat on Mrs. Class President,” John says. “But if I thought she’d swing my way, I’d be all over that.”

Zari scowls, and it’s from something resembling jealousy. 

“Z, your scarf is all twisted,” Ray says. Before Zari can protest, he’s leaning over to adjust it.

“Oh my shit, Z!” Nate says loudly. “Is that a hickey?”

Zari pries Ray’s hands off her scarf and shoots a death glare at Nate.

“Sure looks like one,” Sara agrees. “And you know I’d know.”

John raises an eyebrow and fixes his eyes on a point a few inches above Zari’s head. She turns around, and Charlie is right there, one hand poised to run down Zari’s arm. Zari pulls her arm away.

“You did go for it!” Sara gasps. 

“You made out with her?” Nate asks. “Sick, dude!”

Charlie puts her lips to Zari’s ear so only she can hear. “More like I shagged you against the whiteboard.”

“There’s expo marker on the back of my shirt now,” Zari whispers back. “You ruined it. I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same.”

“Well, I see you found another one. Not that I’d mind seeing you without, precious,” Charlie says, feeling a hand up Zari’s side. Zari slaps it away. Sara is watching, clearly ready to deck Charlie if Zari wants. 

“That how you want to play it, yeah?” Charlie says. She trails her hand off and walks away, hips swinging. This time, she skipped the fishnets and is just wearing the shorts. The back of her shirt is open too, and Zari cranes her neck to see the partially revealed tattoo. 

Zari looks back at her friends around the table. John is smirking even worse. Nate is grinning and whispering something to Ray, who just looks shocked.

“I’m telling Mick to stop skipping and get his ass to school,” Sara says, phone in her hand. “He needs to see this.”

Zari scowls and takes out a notebook. She looks over the lines of handwritten code for her robotics club. She’s been so focused on her ethics presentation that she hasn’t had time to work on anything else. 

She’s partly done with the program for turning when Mick arrives.

“What’s the disaster?” he asks gruffly, likely angry at having his underage day drinking interrupted.

“Nothing,” Zari says loudly.

“You made me come to this wastehole for no reason?” he grunts. “Hmph. I’m leaving.”

“Zari’s gonna get laid!” Sara calls out. 

Mick sits back in his seat. “I’m listenin.”

“Aren’t we all,” Nate says. “Z, spill it.”

“We kissed, I guess. We were just going over our presentation and it happened.”

“It was more than a kiss, love. She marked up your neck too,” John says. 

“Yeah, she… no, I’m not talking about this,” Zari says.

“Well, congratulations,” Nate says. “Think it’s going to happen again?”

“No,” Zari says firmly. She just wishes she could be as sure as she sounds.

 

 

Zari keeps her distance the next time she and Charlie run through the presentation. They’re certainly making progress on the actual debating, although Zari’s finding it harder and harder to focus with Charlie’s eyes raking up and down her body and lips curled into a smirk.

Every time Charlie speaks, she bats her eyelashes at Zari, head tilted back in an expression that oozes arrogance and sex. Zari glare back.

“The benefits to the society are- you know it’s not happening again, right?” Zari says, staring at where Charlie is running her tongue over a candy sucker.

Charlie pops it out of her mouth. Her lips are stained red. “I had to try.”

“It’s not going to work,” Zari says firmly. “It was a one-time thing.”

“Okay,” Charlie says. The smirk isn’t gone. “Whatever you say.”

Zari tries to recollect her train of thought, but it’s completely derailed. She gives up on the presentation for the moment.

“Why me, anyway?”

“Why you what?”

“Why’d you pick me to chase after?”

Charlie twirls the sucker in her fingers. Since the two of them aren’t going to happen, as Zari reminded both herself and Charlie, Zari isn’t sure why it bothers her so much. “You’re hot. Besides, it’s cute how shy you are. You blush whenever I look at you, which is a lot. You get so excited when you work on your nerd computer shit or see a donut.”

“Oh,” Zari says, fully aware that she’s turning red. 

“That answer your question?”

“Uh, yeah,” Zari says. “Thanks.”

Charlie sits back on the desk, legs thrown to the sides. “Now, where were we? Priorities in a society? With the-”

An English teacher Zari hasn’t had for two years walks into the classroom.

“Ladies, building’s closing early today.”

“Oh,” Zari says quietly, mostly grateful that it hadn’t happened yesterday. “My bus won’t be here for two hours, though.” Charlie’s already halfway out the door.

“Can’t you walk to the coffee shop?” her former teacher asks irritably. Zari frowns.

“I can give you a ride,” Charlie says, looking back from out the door.

“There you go,” says the teacher. Zari picks her books up and stuffs them in her backpack. Charlie stops back by her locker to pick up her leather jacket, buttoning it across the chest. Zari wonders if her bare legs will be cold.

Charlie gets on a shiny motorcycle and hands a helmet off to Zari. 

“Is it… safe?” Zari asks, touching the flame decal at the side.

“Course, precious. Just set your backpack in the back.”

Zari looks at the helmet. It has metallic lettering that’s too spiky for her to read on the back.

“If you don’t want to ride, I can stay here with you until your bus is here. Or I could leave,” Charlie says neutrally. “Whatever you want.”

Zari considers the options. Her decision is to throw her leg over the motorcycle and scoot behind Charlie. 

“Alright. Just keep your feet on the footrests and hold on. You can hold onto the handles or - oh, that works too,” Charlie says, referring to how Zari’s arms are both wrapped around her stomach.”

The motorbike takes off, and Zari squeezes Charlie. They aren’t going too fast, but Zari still feels the wind. She shuts her eyes and buries them in the back of Charlie’s leather jacket. It doesn’t even smell like smoke like she was expecting. It smells more like some kind of honey and the motor oil she’d noticed before. Zari wiggles a little closer.

“Which way?” Charlie asks. 

“Oh, uh, left.”

Charlie turns the bike. It jolts Zari forward a little.

“You could just tell me your address,” Charlie suggests. 

“Alright,” Zari says. She starts to rattle it off.

Charlie pulls up and lets Zari dismount first. She tries not to rub against Charlie too much, but it’s not easy. She grabs her backpack.

Charlie waves and lifts her feet back onto the footrests.

“Wait!” Zari calls after her. Charlie puts her feet on the ground. Zari runs to stand next to her. 

“Uh, do you want to go inside and work some more on our debate?” Zari asks before she thinks about it. “Just because our study session was cut short earlier and we still have some work to do?”

Charlie jumps off the motorcycle and puts the kickstand up. 

Zari unlocks her door and waves Charlie inside. Charlie looks around at the pristine floor and takes her boots off, dropping them by the door. 

Charlie looks around. “So, where’s your bedroom?” she asks, but her usual arrogance is lacking. 

“Do you want something to eat?” Zari asks. “I could scrounge for some leftovers or- ooh, we still have a box of donuts!”

“Sure,” Charlie says. Zari already has pulled several plates from the cupboard. She sets the donut box down and picks up one with pink frosting. She stuffs it in her mouth, tearing off a bite with her teeth. 

Charlie walks across the kitchen to get a fork and knife. She picks up a chocolate donut and cuts it into pieces with the knife. Zari says something about her polite manners through her mouthful of carbs. 

Zari puts the rest of the donuts away and carries her plate to the sink. To Zari’s surprise, Charlie picks up her plate too and starts soaking it. 

Zari opens the door to her room and sits on the bed. Charlie sits across from her, leaning back with her feet folded up on the bed. She stretches her arms forward and makes a little yawning sound. Zari smiles. 

“So, I think that if we divide all of the points we want to cover more evenly, then we can make it easier to follow,” Charlie says.

Zari nods and starts marking the outline by category. Charlie reapplies her hairspray. Zari wrinkles her nose.

“Sorry,” Charlie says. “Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s 5:30.”

“Right. I have to be back by sunset.”

“Curfew?” Zari says, surprised that Charlie would follow any sort of rule.

“Nah. Dad’s never even there. It’s just harder to get into my building when it’s dark.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s harder to see the window. The door doesn’t open, so I have to get the lock on the window.”

“Oh,” Zari says. “So that’s another hour.”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of things we can get done,” Charlie says. The arrogance is back. 

“Like our argument reconstruction,” Zari says loudly. Charlie smirks and picks up a pencil from Zari’s nightstand.

Her mother sticks her head in a few minutes later. 

“Zari! Oh, you brought a friend! A school friend?”

“Yeah. This is Charlie,” Zari says, praying that Charlie doesn’t say anything inappropriate.

“I’m Zari’s mom. Call me Jaleh,” her mother says. 

“Good to meet you,” Charlie says politely. 

“Tell me if you need anything for your studies!” she says as she leaves. 

“Thank you,” Charlie replies. “Nice lady,” she says to Zari.

“She’s great,” Zari says. “Thanks for being nice to her.”

Charlie winks. “I can be nice, you see.”

 

 

Charlie’s still paying attention to Zari, but it’s gotten less intense. She’s still been visiting Zari’s table whenever possible, but she’s stopped making comments in Zari’s ear except to ask for her notes. 

Zari doesn’t miss the attention, exactly, but she just shrugs when John asks what happened when they meet up after school. He waves a rolled up piece of paper at her like a cigarette. She sees his sleeve roll up.

“Are those nic patches?”

“Yeah. ‘M trying to quit. Gary won’t say, but I think he has asthma. He starts coughing whenever I smoke near him.”

Zari stares. John waves his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal, pet.”

“You’re serious about him.”

John rolls his eyes. “I don’t do serious, and you know that.”

“Uh-huh,” Zari says. “Right.”

Charlie chooses that moment to ask Zari for a copy of the reading from two weeks ago. Zari hands it over without a word. Charlie walks away. She’s traded out her jeans for a miniskirt. The red band around it swings with every step.

“You know what she’s doing, don’t you?” Sara says.

“No?” 

“She’s playing. The skirt, the seeming indifferent. She’s trying to make you think she’s lost interest in you so you’ll decide you’re into her after all. The next step is going to be flirting with someone else in front of you to see if you get jealous.”

“Well, I don’t care!” Zari says indignantly. “I don’t care who she flirts with or - anything else!”

Sara and John make eye contact with each other. 

Zari risks a glance over her shoulder. Charlie’s sitting in someone else’s lap, laughing and not looking at Zari at all. Zari makes a ‘hmph!’ noise that is most certainly not jealous.

“Told ya,” Sara says. 

“Boyfriend?” Zari asks casually when Charlie walks over.

Charlie snorts. “I’m gay, and I have taste. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Zari says, hating how she’s probably given her interest away already. 

“Hm. Want to do one last practice for the presentation today?”

“I would. I can't believe it's almost time to present,” Zari says. “But my mom’s having something at my house, and the building’s closing early again…”

“My place this time. I’ll show you how to climb through the window.”

Zari enjoys the motorcycle ride a little more this time around. She holds onto Charlie and smiles into the wind.

Charlie parks her motorcycle outside a dump of a building. Charlie dismounts first and gives Zari a hand, like she’s being helped out of a carriage. She leads her around the side of the building. Zari looks up at the tree leading to her window.

“Wait down here while I get it open,” Charlie says. She pulls herself up the branches and works by the windowsill for a minute before it pops open. “Climb on up.”

Zari almost has to leap for the first branch. She gets her foot on a knot and drags herself up. Charlie is reaching a hand over the windowsill. Zari takes it and jumps as Charlie pulls.

She ends up on the floor on top of Charlie. She climbs up in a hurry. 

“I’ll go back down for your backpack,” Charlie says. She jumps back to her feet and climbs down again.

Zari looks around the room. It seems like a kitchen, but more run-down. There’s a messy table that looks like it could only seat two people even if all the stuff was cleared off of it. One of the chairs is dusted over. 

Charlie pops back through the window. “Alright. We should probably go to my room. That’s where the lights work most reliably.”

Zari follows her into the room. It has an unmade bed in the corner, although it looks more like a nest from the assortment of unmatched blankets piled up. Charlie flips the light switch. Nothing happens. She grabs the not-dusty chair from the kitchen and stands on it to turn the light bulb. It flickers a few times but goes steady. 

“There we go,” Charlie says. Zari looks around at the room. Charlie sits on the bed. 

“Sorry, it’s kind of a mess. I’m not really here that much.”

“It’s not a problem,” Zari says. She sits next to Charlie and takes out her notebook. “I didn’t have time to go through and reorder-”

“Already done,” Charlie says. She hands Zari a copy of the new outline. Zari scans it over. It seems good. “You look surprised.”

“I just- thanks. So, I guess the next step is to write up that progress report we’re supposed to have done by next week.”

“Sure,” Charlie says. 

By the time Zari stands up, it’s dark outside. 

“I should get a ride home.”

“Yeah,” Charlie says. “Let me get the window open for you.”

It’s easier to get from the inside. Charlie shoves it a few times and it unlocks. 

“Uh, I usually get down by grabbing onto the top branch and then swinging my feet and hooking them on the next one,” Charlie says. She climbs down as a demonstration. She’s still wearing her heeled boots, somehow.

“Alright,” Zari says. She tries to mimic Charlie’s movements. She gets almost down to the lowest branch before her foot slips. Her hand grasps at the branches but can’t get a grip. Zari gasps.

The next thing she knows, she’s in Charlie’s arms. Charlie’s holding her bridal style, one hand under her arm and the other supporting her knees. She's surprisingly muscular. 

“You alright?” Charlie asks. She’s gentle as she sets Zari on the ground. Zari doesn’t quite let go of her yet.

“I’m good,” Zari says. Her arms are around Charlie’s neck. She must have put them there when Charlie caught her. “Thanks.”

“Bet you never dreamed you’d be sneaking out a girl’s window,” Charlie says. Zari blushes. 

“Yeah. I should get to my bus stop. It’s just a few blocks,” Zari says, but she doesn’t move. 

Charlie smiles at her. It’s the most genuine Zari has ever seen her. 

“Alright, precious. You should get going then, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Zari stares up at Charlie and gives her a quick kiss. Charlie doesn’t push back or try to make it anything more. 

Zari steps away after a second, releasing her arms from around Charlie. She waves and walks away. 

 

 

Zari isn’t expecting something to wake her up by hitting her window. She sits up in bed and looks through the blinds.

Charlie had somehow worked her way up to the eve of Zari’s house, and she looks like a mess. Zari opens the window, and Charlie almost collapses through.

“Charlie! What’s going on?”

“It’s… there’s something against the windows in my place. Somebody blocked it so I can’t get in. I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else I could go-”

“It’s okay. Are you alright?”

Charlie sits on Zari’s bed and puts her head in her hands. Zari’s never seen her this emotional before, or with her makeup smeared all over her face.

“I’m sorry. Could I use your bathroom and change into pajamas or something?”

“Of course,” Zari says softly. She rummages through a drawer until she finds her least embarrassing pair of fluffy pants and cozy shirt and hands them off to Charlie. “You know where the bathroom is. There’s new toothbrushes in the left drawer.”

“Are your parents going to be okay with this?” Charlie asks quietly.

“They’ll understand.”

“Okay,” Charlie says softly. She takes off her boots and sets them by the bed, walking down the hallway. 

Zari sits on the edge of her bed, waiting for Charlie to get back. It takes a few minutes, but Charlie comes back with the makeup wiped off her face. She looks cute without it. Zari wonders from the red around her eyes if she’d cried.

“I can take the couch,” Zari says.

“I can’t kick you off your own bed. I’ll go down to the couch.”

“No, you’re a guest. Besides, I think it’d be weirder for my parents to find you on my couch. You’re sleeping in a bed.”

“Not if you have to sleep somewhere else.”

Zari mentally assesses the size of her bed. She gets in on the left side and pats the area next to her.

“Are you sure?” Charlie asks.

“Yeah.”

Charlie sits on the right side of the bed. She lies down and groans in pleasure.

“It’s so soft.”

Zari tries not to think about how Charlie usually sleeps. She still can’t believe that she’s sharing a bed with Charlie, of all people. She looks so peaceful without her makeup or body jewelry. She seems almost vulnerable as Zari watches her roll over and lean into the pillow. Zari forces herself not to reach out and brush Charlie’s hair out of her face. 

Zari shuts her eyes, and it seems like less than a second before the sun’s in her eyes from where she’d forgotten the window and the blinds last night. Charlie is still asleep, cuddled up with her. Their feet are tangled up together, and Charlie’s head is resting on Zari’s chest. The next thing she notices is her brother staring at her from the doorway. 

“Who is that?” he mouths.

“My friend,” Zari whispers back. 

Behrad just looks more confused. 

“Well, tell her to wake up. Your school starts in an hour.”

Zari looks down at Charlie. She’s still asleep, probably because she spent most of the night who-knows-where.

“Charlie. Wake up, Charlie,” Zari whispers gently. 

Charlie’s eyes open, then she sits up. 

“Sorry,” she says. “Uh, I’ll get my clothes and then-”

“We have school in an hour.”

“Right. The presentation. That's today, isn't it?”

Charlie stands up from the bed. “Is there a way I can make it to the bathroom without your family noticing?”

“I doubt it. You know, you don’t have to sneak out the window. You could have breakfast with us. I hope you don’t mind not having bacon.”

Charlie looks surprised. “Uh, sure.”

Zari walks downstairs. Charlie follows, looking unsure what to do.

“You brought your friend,” Behrad comments.

“Yeah. This is Charlie. Charlie, Behrad. My brother.”

Behrad hands Zari a plate with a donut.

“Chocolate good?” he asks Charlie.

“Yeah, thanks,” Charlie says. Behrad grabs another plate for her. 

He pulls Zari aside. “What’s she doing here?”

“We were working on our project, and it was easier for her to stay here than go back to her place,” Zari says. It’s sort of a half-truth.

“Alright. I won’t tell Mom and Dad that you woke up with a girl in your bed.”

“We’re not sleeping together,” Zari insists.

“That was exactly what you were doing.”

“Okay, bad choice of wording on my part. We’re not having sex.”

“Alright. That isn’t my business anyway. Just, uh, be safe, I guess.”

Charlie’s donut is gone. Zari finishes her own. 

“If you need a change of clothes, you can look in my closet. You can also use my deodorant or whatever,” she says. 

“Thanks, precious,” Charlie says, but the nickname carries a little less of the arrogance. She struts off to get dressed.

Behrad turns to her again. “You said you aren’t having sex with her?”

“I’m not.”

“But you want to.”

It isn’t a question, so Zari doesn’t answer.

“As long as you’re happy, Z, our parents won’t care. And neither will I.”

“Thanks,” Zari says. “That’s good to know.”

Charlie walks down the stairs. She’s wearing her leather jacket and her shorts, but she has Zari’s dark purple shirt too.

Zari has to admit that she looks good. Part of it is the murmur of pride Zari feels at Charlie wearing her clothes, almost like she’s claimed. Part of it is how Zari’s shirt shows a little bit of the skin of her chest. Another thing is different- Charlie isn’t wearing makeup yet. 

Zari can tell Charlie is thinking a sexual remark, but she refrains from saying it in front of Behrad. 

“I’m going to get dressed too,” Zari announces. She digs through her own clothes until she finds her tightest plaid shirt and the skinniest pair of jeans in her inventory. She unbuttons her shirt one button lower than she usually goes and rolls up her sleeves. 

Charlie is putting on her boots when Zari gets her backpack together.

“I can give you both a ride to school,” Behrad says, delivering the thinly veiled message that he doesn’t trust them to go off alone or get themselves to school. 

“Thank you,” Zari says. She picks up her backpack and jumps in the backseat. Charlie sits next to her and starts applying her eyeliner.

“How are you going to do that without poking your eye out?” Zari asks.

“Skill,” Charlie says. “Just tell me if there’s any sudden turns or bumps we’re going to hit.”

She looks almost like her regular self by the time Behrad drops them off. Zari can see him watching to make sure they enter the building. 

John sniffs out drama before Zari gets to her first class.

“She’s wearing your shirt.”

“How do you even know that? I haven’t worn that shirt in years.”

“I was your friend in middle school too, remember?”

“I don’t remember a thing you wore in middle school. Was that before the trenchcoat and the red tie were an everyday thing?”

“Stop dodging. She slept over.”

“Yeah, but nothing happened. I mean, she met my brother, but we didn’t - you know.”

He takes out a cigarette. He reaches for his lighter, then changes his mind and puts it down.

“Gary said something to me last night,” John says. Zari raises her eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. 

“He says he wants to, uh, be my boyfriend.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t really say.”

“And you don’t? Want him to be your boyfriend?”

“Well, the arrangement started as sex, but I don’t know. We’re already exclusive, at least on my end. I haven’t shagged anyone else since we got involved. Haven’t even thought about it, really.”

“Too much information,” Zari says. “But do you want to go on dates with him? Hold his hand?”

John mutters something Zari can’t really hear and walks away. “Thanks for the talk, pet.”

Zari stares after him. He goes back inside and marches right up to where Gary is sitting for his student government club meeting. She can’t hear what he says, but she can come up with a guess from the smile that spreads across Gary’s face.

 

 

“Hey, so I think our presentation went really well,” Zari says, catching up to Charlie in the parking lot. 

Charlie grins. “Yeah. We did a good job of making the two sides of the argument seem equal.”

“Do you, uh. Do you want to try to get into your window again today?”

“I guess. It should be easier with the sun up. This is a weird request, but will you go with me?”

“Of course,” Zari says. She sits behind Charlie on the motorcycle and straps her helmet to her head. She notices with some happiness that Charlie brought another helmet for herself to wear. 

She’s used to motorcycle rides by now. It makes it easy to enjoy how her arms encircle Charlie’s waist. It’s over too soon, when Charlie parks the vehicle and looks up.

She climbs the tree and looks through the window.

“The blinds are shut, so I can’t really see in,” she says.

“Are there other windows?”

“Not ones I can reach. There’s one on the east side, but it’s too high for me to get without a ladder.”

“What if you lifted me up?” Zari asks. 

“I’ll try,” Charlie says. She holds Zari around the waist, long enough for Zari to grab the eve. 

“The blinds are shut here too.”

“Okay. The window might be loose.”

Charlie tosses a screwdriver up. Zari catches it.

“What do I do with it?”

“Do you see the metal strip around the glass?”

“Yeah.”

“Work in one of the edges of that. Just kind of pry it open.”

Zari gets frustrated, but after two minutes, the screwdriver makes it under the edge. She moves it to the side until the metal is loose enough for her to pull it away. She sets it next to her on the shingles.

“Now, you want to go for the glass. Get the screwdriver in the lower edge.”

Zari works the glass panel out. One edge pops out first. She gently works it out. 

“Alright. Now you want to set the glass panel to the side and climb through.”

Zari sets it down slowly and crawls through the open window. This is a room she hadn’t been to before. It’s run down and miserable. There’s beer bottles thrown across the floor.

Zari walks through the rooms until she finds the kitchen window. Sure enough, the blinds are shut and there’s a table propped up by it. No wonder Charlie can’t get in.

Zari starts to move the table to the side.

“What do you think you’re doing?” someone says. Zari turns around. The man talking doesn't look too good. He's clutching a bottle, and his eyes are red.

“Well, the door doesn’t work, and Charlie has to get in somehow.”

“Charlotte? She send you?”

“I’m just here to help her.”

“I’m gonna kill her,” the man says. His words are slurred. “I’m gonna kill her.”

Zari takes the opportunity to run for the window she’d gotten in through. She climbs out and drops two stories to the ground. She feels her ankle give out and gasps.

Charlie runs around the building and kneels next to her. She looks seriously concerned.

“Zari! Are you alright?”

“There’s somebody there. He says he’s gonna kill you.”

“Dad’s here? Shit,” Charlie says. She helps Zari up. Zari winces when she tries to put weight on her left side.

“Woah, it’s okay. He’s not actually going to kill me. I’m sorry about him, by the way. I didn’t expect him to be here. It’s technically his place, but he’s never even around. He doesn’t want me there at all.” 

Charlie dodges an empty bottle. 

“I guess I’ll leave until he calms down,” she says. “Do you think you can walk to the bike?”

Zari tries to take a step and cries out. Charlie picks her up gently and sets her on the motorcycle. She hands Zari a helmet and drives off with her. 

She parks the motorcycle by Zari’s house and sits on the porch with her. She lifts Zari’s foot and starts looking at it.

“I don’t think it’s broken. The swelling isn’t too bad, so the sprain should be gone in a few days. It must hurt like hell, though. Just try to keep it elevated.”

“Is your dad always like that?”

“Whenever I see him, yeah. He’ll be gone again in a few days and I can move back in. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have sent you in if I thought he’d still be there ready to threaten you.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad I was there and we both made it out alright.”

“How am I going to tell your mom that I got your ankle sprained?”

“My parents seem pretty easy to deal with right now,” Zari says. “Mom loves you. She keeps asking when you’re going to be over again.”

“Aw,” Charlie says. “Well, you should go inside and get some ice on your ankle.”

“You can stay over again,” Zari says quickly. “It’s not a school night. We can have, like, a sleepover.”

“Would that be okay?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” 

Charlie stands up and helps Zari. Charlie walks inside and digs for ice in the freezer. She gets a bag and presses it to Zari’s ankle through a paper towel. 

“Mm. That’s nice.”

“I’m going to be out for a while,” Behrad says. “Whoa, hi, Charlie! What happened?”

“I fell down,” Zari says. It’s technically true.

“Uh, okay. I’m going to the mosque to volunteer with their charity program for a while. If you need anything, text me. And, uh, feel better. Be safe, I guess.”

He puts his jacket on and heads out. Zari is still sitting at the kitchen table with Charlie holding her injured foot in her lap. 

“You should get some rest,” Charlie says. 

“It’s just my ankle,” Zari says, but she lets Charlie carry her to her bed and set her down gently, making sure the pressure stays off her ankle. She lies down next to her. 

Zari’s shirt is riding up on Charlie’s stomach. Zari reaches out and pulls her closer. 

“Oh. This was the kind of sleepover you meant,” Charlie says. She sounds a little surprised.

“Do you not want -”

“No, yeah, I do. I just wasn’t sure if you, you know.”

“You don’t think I like you? After everything? We’ve made out. I kissed you multiple times.”

Zari can see Charlie’s cheeks turning redder. “Yeah, I just wanted to be sure.”

Zari moves so she’s nearly on top of Charlie and kisses her. Charlie gasps into her mouth. 

It’s nice to kiss Charlie without the threat of being interrupted. There’s no teacher ready to scold them or Behrad lurking somewhere. It’s even nicer to be on a horizontal surface. Charlie’s soft and warm and makes the most delectable noises under Zari. The hard, cold click of her tongue piercing seems shocking in comparison. 

Zari leans back on her knees. Charlie sits up to chase her lips. 

“You gonna lose the jacket?” Zari asks quietly. Charlie sets it on the nightstand. Zari leans forward again and runs her hands over Charlie. She starts finding spots on Charlie’s neck with her tongue, too.

“Mm. That’s nice,” Charlie says into Zari’s hair. She reaches one of her hands down to the hem of Zari’s flannel and starts to feel her back under it. 

Zari starts to unbutton her shirt before she gives up and pulls it off over her head. Charlie’s eyes move over her. Charlie smiles. There’s no sexual remark or obscene lip-licking. 

“You’re so gorgeous,” Charlie says instead. 

Zari blushes and looks down. 

“Hey,” Charlie says gently. “You are.”

“What now?” Zari asks quietly.

“Do you want to lie down, and I’ll show you?”

“Absolutely,” Zari says.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the morning-after epilogue! I wrote this because I couldn't leave this AU alone and I felt like it needed some sort of continuation where they actually talk about more romance-y stuff.

“Wake up!” John says from outside Zari’s bedroom door. 

Zari groans. Charlie’s arms are still around her. She debates pretending to be asleep, but she knows John would just open the door anyway. 

“Ugh. John, how’d you get in?” Zari calls out.

“Your brother let me in, pet. I don’t think he was eager to be the one to wake you up this morning.”

Zari tries to wiggle away from Charlie. Charlie just yawns and nuzzles into her back. Zari had already gotten up once, before sunrise, to pray. Charlie had looked so cute spread out on Zari’s bed, taking up every inch of the mattress with the blankets twisted around her hips. 

“I’ll be right out,” Zari says. She tries to step out of bed, but pain shoots up her leg. Charlie rolls over. 

“Should I hide? I could climb out the window,” Charlie says tiredly.

“No point. He’ll figure it out anyway. Might as well just get dressed and face the music.”

Charlie yawns and stands up. She grabs two fresh shirts from Zari’s drawer and kicks the shirts they’d dropped the night before under the bed. 

“I’m getting old out here, ladies,” John says. 

Charlie throws Zari leggings and pulls her own skirt back on.

“You can let him in,” Zari says, sitting on the bed. Charlie opens the door.

“Good to see you, Charlie,” John says. “Zari, I need your advice.”

“Can it wait?” Zari says irritably. 

“Gary wants to go to prom with me.”

“And that’s my problem because…”

“He wants me to ask him and I don’t know how. Also, I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m actually great,” Zari says. “It was-”

“I’m not talking about the sex, although you know I’d love to hear. Did you really break your ankle?”

“It’s sprained. How did you even-”

“We’re having a prom this year?” Charlie interrupts. “I heard about what happened last year.”

“Yeah. We all thought they’d cancel it this year, but I think student government pulled a few strings,” Zari answers.

“Gary was one of the ones who made it happen,” John continues. “That’s why I think he wants to go. And he hasn’t asked me but he keeps dropping these hints. Sara’s girlfriend pulled me out of class to tell me to my face that I should ask him, but I don’t know how.”

“Say, ‘Gary, you’re my boyfriend and I was hoping you’d go to prom with me’,” Zari suggests.

“I need something a bit more fancy than that, love.”

“No matter what you do, he’s going to be happy to go with you,” Charlie says. “But if you really need ideas, make a Dungeons and Dragons campaign where he has to battle a demon at the end that asks him.”

John nods thoughtfully. He looks less angry than he had before. “You know, you aren’t half bad, Charlie. Oh, and Zari, your brother says there’s going to be breakfast ready soon, so I’m thinking I’ll stay for that. See you downstairs.”

He walks away, leaving the door open. Charlie stretches.

“Well, I could go with a black two-piece with dark purple or green. And then maybe you could get a dress that matches the accent color,” Charlie starts to say.

Zari stares. Charlie looks back at her.

“Oh. I guess it’s customary to prom-pose to the girl before we start planning the outfits. Uh, I should have come up with a nice promposal.”

“It’s okay,” Zari says. “I’d love to go with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m not just in it for the sex,” Zari says. She playfully touches Charlie’s arm and kisses her on the cheek. 

“Neither am I,” Charlie says. “Although, it was great. Would love to do it again.”

Zari blushes. “Now we have to face John and my brother. I don’t know what will be worse. I don’t know if Behrad will even acknowledge anything. John’s probably already sent updates to all of our friends.”

“Want to sit on my lap when we make it downstairs?”

“That is not happening. Not at the breakfast table,” Behrad says from the door. He’s covering his eyes. “Look, the food isn’t going to stay warm forever, and Mr. Constantine has started eating. So you need to get downstairs very soon or there won’t be anything left.”

“Right,” Charlie says. “Thank you.”

She picks up Zari and follows Behrad down. They make it just in time to see John swipe the last piece of pita bread. 

“I’ll get some more,” Behrad says. “Just. No, uh, canoodling. Please.”

John snorts. He’s started scrawling notes on some piece of paper. 

“Alright,” Zari says. Charlie helps her sit down, then moves to a seat across the table. 

Charlie’s hair is all out of place. She smiles at Zari, and Zari blushes. 

“So, what color should we get for our wrist-flower things?” Charlie asks. “The most obnoxiously matching and couple-y white ones with all the lace?”

“Oh, we’re a couple now?” Zari teases.

Charlie freezes again. 

“Yeah. I think we need to get little strings of pearls on them too. Very romantic,” Zari says. 

Charlie blushes. Her smile is the sweetest. “Anything for you, precious.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading !

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ! I had such a good time writing this, especially after Gary in the last episode talking about how bad high school was.


End file.
